Suzhen was slightly stunned. There was nothing particularly amusing about this, and she truly didn’t understand what had pleased him so. In the past, she had enjoyed making him laugh the most, yet he was always stern and unsmiling. Well, she might as well consider it the fulfillment of a long-cherished wish.

Suddenly she heard him say again, “There’s nothing to eat here, only some moldy rice and grain that’s inedible. If we must eat, we can only eat people.”

Suzhen was so startled she gasped, unable to speak for quite some time. After a long while, she slowly began, “Speaking of eating people, when I’m desperately hungry, you’d better be careful. I wouldn’t dare eat A’luo, otherwise even if I survived, Lian Yu wouldn’t spare me either.”

“As for you, hmm, I could consider it.”

“Oh?”

Though she couldn’t see his expression, she was familiar enough with him to imagine from his voice that slightly raised eyebrow expression.

“I am, after all, a man. With your mediocre martial arts skills, you’d have to be able to kill me first.”

Suzhen, thoroughly “despised,” decided to shut her mouth and stop talking to him, not even discussing the case anymore.

Once she fell silent, the burning hunger in her stomach became even more distinct and unbearable. This caused her forced composure to slowly fade away. Without food, they could last six or seven days, but without even water, they would die in at most three or four days!

“Do you think people outside will be able to find us after we’ve gone missing?”

After about an hour had passed, she still spoke up, discussing with Li Zhaoting.

Li Zhaoting remained silent for a long while before finally answering.

“Hard to say. There was no one in the room at the time, so no one knows I disappeared here. They might think I left the palace or went elsewhere. As for you, it was already late when you parted with the princess, so who would expect you to return here? Since you and I are handling this case, there’s no need for morning court attendance for now, and it wouldn’t be strange for us to go out investigating evidence. The people at our residences wouldn’t think much of us not returning for a night or half a night. It would take at least a day or two of not seeing us before they’d find it odd and start searching. But even if they search the palace and come here, not to mention they hadn’t carefully examined the room before or noticed the arrangement of tables and chairs, even if they had come in before and now see the chairs in disarray, they’d surely think it was caused by us searching through things. After all, you didn’t let them touch anything here, but you didn’t say you wouldn’t move things yourself. If they don’t even notice this detail, who would flip through the floor brick by brick to find the mechanism underneath?”

“You’d do better to hope that Gu Xiluo mentioned something to her maids before coming, which might catch Lian Yu’s attention.”

Suzhen gave a somewhat ambiguous “mm” and said, “Speaking of which, A’gu has also gone missing. The palace must be in chaos—”

“What, are you unhappy?”

Li Zhaoting’s voice carried a slight hint of mockery.

Suzhen fell silent for a moment, then retorted, “Lian Yu treats her well. What, are you even more unhappy?”

“Yes, I am unhappy.”

Li Zhaoting wasn’t fazed in the slightest, answering steadily with a voice that betrayed not a trace of emotion, let alone anger.

Suzhen bit her lip resentfully, but thinking of Lian Yu’s involvement, her unease diminished considerably.

Li Zhaoting seemed to always know what she was thinking. “But if she didn’t give instructions to her maids before leaving, then the palace won’t necessarily connect our disappearances together. After all, she has nothing to do with this case.”

“However, although His Majesty has acknowledged her and treats her extremely well, he seems to still have some feelings for you. Even if he doesn’t think of us together, knowing you’ve disappeared, he would still inquire about it.”

These words not only failed to make Suzhen happy but successfully struck another blow at her. What did “seems to still have some feelings for you” mean? It was just reminding her that in Lian Yu’s heart, she would never compare to A’luo.

She pretended not to understand and instead laughed as she replied, “That’s very good. What could be more important than staying alive?”

“At the time, five people saw the scene in the room. Three are here, and there are two others. One is the Empress Dowager, and one is His Majesty. The Empress Dowager won’t concern herself with our affairs. As for His Majesty, when I questioned him today, though he walked to the doorway, his gaze wasn’t in the room. He deliberately avoided looking – this is a place he doesn’t want to revisit. So you’d better prepare yourself mentally. We might be rescued, but we might also die here.”

Li Zhaoting’s subsequent words were extremely soft, yet they struck Suzhen’s heart like a hammer.

Suzhen bit her teeth and stood up, groping for the bones on the ground to relight them, but no more phosphorus fire emerged. Unwilling to give up, she struggled forward in the pitch darkness, entering cave after cave, knocking and feeling along the walls, searching bit by bit.

She didn’t know how much time had passed – perhaps two hours, three hours, or even longer. Indeed, as Li Zhaoting had said, she found no suspicious clues or way out.

She shouted loudly, hoping someone could hear her, even though she knew the sound couldn’t possibly escape.

After shouting for about the time it takes to drink tea, her voice became hoarse and she could no longer utter half a sentence, so she finally gave up.

By this time, the wound on her foot had swollen considerably, and the needle-like pain with each step forced her to return to the original spot. Throughout this process, Li Zhaoting remained very quiet, neither speaking nor laughing at her – he was a particularly quiet person.

She endured the pain and drew up her legs, burying her head in her knees. The frustration and fear in her heart kept interweaving, and she had to admire Li Zhaoting – he truly was as he said, knowing that fear was useless, remaining composed and calm.

Though the environment was harsh and she was physically and mentally exhausted with injuries, she eventually dozed off in a daze.

“Water… water…”

She didn’t know how much time had passed when she woke to A’luo’s weak voice. Her mouth was dry, her stomach empty and aching, and her whole body felt like it was burning.

She wanted to get up to check on A’luo but felt completely powerless.

Suddenly there was light before her eyes. Her spirits lifted as she saw Li Zhaoting holding a fire starter in his hand. Was that her dropped fire starter?

She couldn’t help but speak, “When did you pick that up?”

“Less nonsense. Conserve your strength and try to last as long as possible, hoping someone will come.”

He had his back to her, and she could vaguely see his back was stained with dark red. Had he been injured when he fell?

She was just wondering about this when she saw him set the fire starter aside and pull out a dagger.

Damn, the dagger was also hers!

When the hell had he taken it!

He raised the dagger – her heart jumped. Don’t tell me that in his love turned to hate, he was going to kill A’luo to eat her?!

But he loved A’luo deeply and was an extremely rational person… In a flash, her vision blurred again, and the dagger slashed down. He had cut his own wrist!

What was he trying to do?

Soon she understood as he brought his hand to A’luo’s mouth.

Blood quickly flowed into A’luo’s mouth.

A’luo frowned and unconsciously sucked, then suddenly coughed and slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyes first showed a trace of confusion, then she looked at Li Zhaoting in shock. “You…”

Only then did Li Zhaoting withdraw his hand, tearing off a piece of fabric to bind the wound. He helped her sit up against the wall. “Your injuries aren’t serious. You only fainted from the impact earlier. Don’t be afraid, we’ll definitely get out. Hold on and wait for rescue.”

A’luo nodded. “I will persevere. I cannot die here. If I go missing, Lian Yu will go crazy with worry. He will find us! He will definitely find us.”

After speaking, she looked at him with immense guilt. “Are you alright? You treat me so well, and I have no way to repay you. Why do you torment yourself so?”

Li Zhaoting sat down several inches away from her. His complexion was pale and ashen, his lips frighteningly white, but his eyes remained clear and bright without a trace of resentment. Even his posture was straight and dignified, like a true gentleman.

“I do this willingly, you needn’t blame yourself. Only now do I realize how ridiculous my one-sided feelings were before. You and His Majesty are childhood sweethearts – you’re the perfect match.” He gave a self-deprecating smile, his voice low and hoarse but without any blame.

A’luo’s eyes seemed to moisten slightly. She turned her head slightly and saw her, her gaze becoming cold.

“Don’t speak. Try to minimize consumption. I’m right beside you – call me if you need anything.”

Li Zhaoting spoke as he extinguished the fire starter to preserve the flame.

“Alright.” A’luo answered softly.

Suzhen felt cold all over, knowing it was from her injuries, but her heart was even colder. There were undoubtedly three people here, yet she felt she was the only one alone. She pulled her clothes tighter around herself, gritting her teeth to endure, trying her best to think of happy times before coming to the capital to ward off the hunger and cold.

She lay down, wanting to sleep again.

However, this time she couldn’t fall asleep no matter what. She didn’t know how long she had slept before, but from when the three of them fell silent again, she ached and hungered, calculating that by the time she was so thirsty and hungry she wanted to die, so cold she curled up in a ball and had to struggle to sit up, she estimated another two days had passed.

Sitting up seemed to clear her mind a bit, but her body felt worse – dizzy, with stomach cramps, shivering all over, wanting to vomit but having nothing to bring up.

Must hold on, she thought.

“Zhaoting, I’m cold…”

Not far away, A’luo’s voice rose softly, sounding hoarse and weak as well.

Soon there was a rustling of clothes. She heard A’luo say “you mustn’t,” and Li Zhaoting replied quietly, “It’s an emergency measure. Life is what matters now.”

Suzhen could roughly guess what was happening.

Li Zhaoting was holding A’luo.

She thought to herself, this truly was love – Li Zhaoting wasn’t even afraid that Lian Yu might arrive and kill him for this.

She suddenly wondered what would happen if it were her instead. Li Zhaoting would probably kick her away. Of course, this was just a hypothetical situation – she neither hoped for nor needed Li Zhaoting to hold her.

It was just that in her heart, she had always considered him like family, so this disparity made her feel bitter.

She hugged herself tightly, and after an unknown amount of time, she heard A’luo’s hoarse voice calling, “Zhaoting, Zhaoting, wake up, you can’t fall asleep.”

This dialogue sounded so familiar that Suzhen started and opened her eyes. She saw the fire starter light up, Li Zhaoting collapsed on A’luo’s lap, and A’luo, pale-faced and weak, patting his face. Suzhen didn’t know where she found the strength, but she actually managed to struggle to her feet. She rushed over, picked up the dagger from the ground, cut her own wrist, and brought it to Li Zhaoting’s lips.